All posts tagged ‘travel’

Rickety Wood Bridge, Virginia. I certainly didn’t want to end up stranded in the middle of this. Photo: Jenny Williams

I take very good care of my car. I don’t know much about cars, or care to, but I rely on my car on a daily basis. Especially now that I’m a single mom, I don’t have any backup. So I take my car in for every scheduled maintenance, and check out every drip or weird noise.

Part of taking care of my car included renting a car for my 40 day road trip last summer instead of driving my own. I didn’t want to put 6000 miles on my car in such a short period of time, so I managed to cheaply rent one (it was about $775 for a 41 day rental through AAA).

I went to pick up the car at my local airport (local being the operative word here — it’s a small, regional airport, which actually allowed for a much cheaper rental than I could have gotten two hours away in Phoenix), and got all the paperwork filled out. I started the car, and a weird indicator light became lit. I checked the manual. It was a tire warning light. I’d never driven a car that warned you if your tire was low on air, but this indicator proved to be an incredibly useful diagnostic tool later on.Continue Reading “Travel Week: Always Take Care of Your Tires” »

I gave up on trying to take notes in the dark fairly early on as I watched Brave, but one of the few I did manage was, “a princess donea stuff her gob.” Why was that noteworthy? Because they left it in.

It would have been all too tempting to let executives step in and market position the Scottish right out of Brave. Instead, Pixar encouraged the voice actors to make dialect suggestions. There are a lot of vocabulary words that would be totally unfamiliar to the average American child, and there’s even a character that speaks in an incomprehensibly thick Doric accent. Rather than translate him – or anyone – the characters react and move on. That is as it should be. Do you really need a translation to understand the emotional context of this real world squabble?

The cowardly answer would have been to have the characters speak with a mildly Scottish accent and throw in a few “wee lads and lasses” and leave it at that. Yes, I’m looking at you, Shrek. Or have a few thick-accented characters who are translated for viewers, “He meant ‘Yes, that’s fair.’” Instead, we have a mother who warns her child that she’ll get gobblywobbles if she eats a whole pile of treats. We have characters referring to galoots and numpties, and even an exclamation of ”Jings crivins, help ma boab!”

Granted, many of the voice actors have spent a long time in America and have accents that, while thick to American ears, have less of a burr than they once did. Pixar could have gone too far and them play it up for a movie only viewable with subtitles, but they seem to have struck a good balance here. Everything is clear enough in context, and really it makes a fairy tale in a mythical setting seem genuine and grounded. Removing all the slang would have been the wrong choice.

My 10-year-old did not leave asking for a translation. She asked me to tell her about will-o’- the wisps. She asked if she could learn archery. She asked what they were eating. She asked if we could go to Scotland someday, but she never needed to ask what a numpty was.

Eilean Donan Castle is part of a Brave-themed Scottish Castle tour. Photo by Scottish Viewpoint

If the sweeping scenes of Scottish countryside in Disney-Pixar’s Brave have you ready to pack your bags for a visit, here’s some good news: Scotland’s tourism board has created Brave-themed travel itineraries for families.

Six self-guided driving tours are arranged around different themes, including myths and legends, castles, clans, and wildlife. Brave tie-ins include sights such as the Calanais Standing Stones on the Isle of Lewis, which were part of the inspiration for the ring of stones Merida discovers in the film.

The Calanais standing stones inspired part of the movie. Photo: VisitScotland

The Scottish Castle tour includes a stop at Eilean Donan Castle in the Highlands, one of the castles the production team visited while researching the movie. The Myths and Legends itinerary takes families to Dunnottar Castle, a medieval ruin that had a big impact on the film: After seeing its dramatic seaside setting, the filmmakers decided to move the DunBroch family castle from the Highlands to the coast.

If touring on your own isn’t for you, another option is a small-group guided tour with Rabbie’s Trail Burners, whose four-day Scottish Castle Experience includes Brave themes as well as a banquet, castle visits and even a stop at a whisky distillery (land only; from $825 adult/$650 child).

These high schoolers encourage all of us to print out a copy of Allie, take a picture with her, then submit it along with a message. That might be something we’d like to tell youth who are struggling with self-acceptance or our comments about why LGBTQ awareness is important. Our words and images will show people all over the world the level of support available for LGBTQ youth. Post images on Allie’s Facebook page and connect with Allie on Twitter. And imagine the day when copies of Allie the Ally are faded displays in a Civil Rights museum, no longer needed in a world where each person is valued as a uniquely beautiful being.

For Mother’s Day weekend, I was given the opportunity to take my family to the Gaylord Palms Resort for a Dreamworks Experience weekend.I’ve taken my husband and 6-year old son to ICE! in the past and it was a really nice, family friendly experience. As for the hotel, I’ve always seen it as more of a hotel for weddings or business guests. I was interested to see if the Dreamworks Experience would change the opinion I already have of the resort.

A few weeks before we left, we told our son we were going on a vacation. To make sure we got an honest reaction out of him, we didn’t tell him where we were going or give him any details other than they had a pool. The day finally came and we arrived at the hotel. When we walked into our hotel room, our son’s first reaction was “Wow! This is awesome!” When I showed him our balcony, overlooking the atrium, Brandon was really excited when to see the “china fish” swimming around the castle in the atrium. Continue Reading “Shrek on Over to Gaylord Palms for the Summer” »

Creating this level of luxury on the Amazon is no simple feat. Photos by Alisson Clark.

It’s a steamy 85 degrees in the Peruvian Amazon, and as we end the afternoon’s excursion and climb from the skiff back aboard the riverboat Aria, most passengers have their minds on three things: cold air-conditioning, a hot shower and the tall, cool glass of fruit juice handed to each of us by an immaculately pressed and coiffed waiter.

Not me. Although the bright-pink camu camu juice is refreshing (and the prospect of a/c and a shower even moreso) the thought I can’t get out of my head is, how is this possible?

Just outside the teak-and-glass confines of the M/V Aria is the Amazon jungle: impenetrable forests where monkeys howl, sloths dangle and toucans and macaws fly overhead. On board, however, the meals, cabins, bar, and even boutique are straight out of a five-star hotel. The feat of such luxury amid the wilderness is even more remarkable when you consider that the only nearby city, Iquitos, is the largest in the world that’s not accessible by road (save for one track leading to a neighboring town). Everything Aria requires to maintain its daily luxuries, from fluffy white towels to Champagne, has to be flown in or sent up the river by barge. How does Aqua Expeditions, the company that owns Aria and it sister ship, Aqua, provide high-end comforts in the midst of the jungle? I asked Aqua Expeditions guide Juan Tejada, who obliged with a look behind the scenes of this floating hotel.

Approaching the palm-lined shores of Cayo Santiago in southeastern Puerto Rico, bright yellow signs alert us that there’s more to this tropical island than its inviting stretches of beach.

“Peligro! Estos Monos Muerden!”

My rusty Spanish translates this as “Danger! These Monkeys Kill!” But then I realize – courtesy of the English translation below it – that “muerden” actually means “bite.” That’s an improvement, but I’ll keep my distance, thank you very much. I do, however, want to get a look at these monkeys (rhesus macaques, to be specific). They’re the stars of Cayo Santiago, one of the world’s leading field sites for primate research. Hundreds of monkeys live free on the 38-acre island, surrounded by turquoise waters where they sometimes go for a swim. Scientists observe the behavior, communication and physiology of the monkeys as they explore their island home, climbing palm trees and scampering over rocky outcroppings. The monkeys are descendants of a colony established here in 1938, and their genetic isolation — along with a detailed heredity database that dates back to 1957 — makes them valuable research subjects. Also, they’re cute, which is why we’ve paddled out to see them. We’re not primate researchers, just a nerdy family on vacation.

Impressive feats of endurance, adventure, and perseverance are no longer rare. But there was once a time when people tended to live more quiet lives, and those that embarked on unusual endeavors set themselves apart. The nation and the world would follow these intrepid souls, rooting for their success. People would eagerly await their newspaper for the latest reports. I have found an interesting and moving book that tells the story of three such remarkable people.

A recent discovery of mine from the kids’ graphic novel section of our local public library is Around the World: Three Remarkable Journeys by Matt Phelan. While this book does qualify for this section of the library, it isn’t fiction. The beautifully illustrated book tells the true story of three different people who traveled around the world. I had only heard of one of them, so it was quite educational for me to boot.

Told through subtle and moving illustrations and not heavy on words, the emotions of what the travelers likely went through are well expressed through images, facial expressions, colors, and wordless panels. In case you are new to these stories, I will leave out most of the details so you can discover them for yourself.

The Journey of Thomas Stevens: Wheelman, 1884

All about a man riding an old, large-wheeled bicycle as he travels around the world, the story of Thomas Stevens gives us a glimpse of how the world learned about the bicycle during its early days. Most of us know the iconic high-wheeler bicycle. Most of us have wondered how one would get up on it, and then stay on it, peddling along, perched high atop a very large wheel. Thomas learned how to do so, and made it around the world on this unusual new form of conveyance. But he is gone so long that by the time he gets home, the bicycle has become much more widely adopted. This story is based on Thomas Stevens’s actual account of his journey, Around the World on a Bicycle.

The Journey of Nellie Bly: Girl Reporter, 1889

Nellie Bly was the one traveler that I had heard of, but I knew little about her travels. She proposed a journey around the world to beat the record of eighty days. Eventually talking the New York World newspaper into supporting such a trip, she set off, traveling alone. This was unusual in those days, to say the least. Her journey was quite different from that of Thomas Stevens, and though it wasn’t an easy one, had to be somewhat less arduous than his. But she was brave and determined, and made it all on her own. She, too, wrote her adventures down in a book, Nellie Bly’s Book: Around the World in Seventy-two Days.

The Journey of Joshua Slocum: Mariner, 1895

This tale is the most emotional of all. Joshua, a gentleman who had been through a lot in his life already, traveled around the world by sailboat, leaving his wife behind. This story contains flashbacks to earlier parts of his life, times of joy and of sadness. You could tell that this journey was one of purpose. Reading it and seeing the illustrations feels like you are merely experiencing snapshots of his life and adventure. It leaves you with an impression, but not a complete picture of his trip. Differently colored panels indicate whether they are from the main timeline, or are a glimpse into the past. It also contains many direct quotations from his own writing, from the book Sailing Alone Around the World.

Each of the three stories ends with an Epilogue, telling what happened next to the intrepid travelers. Each had written down their adventures, and we can all now share in the experience. All three are now on my must-read list.

Hint: None of these are going to meet passport photo requirements, although we did eventually get the winner out of our constantly moving three-year-old. Photos: Ruth Suehle

We’re rapidly approaching the end of school and the beginning of the summer travel season. For some of you, that means your kids will need their first passports–or new ones, which for kids is like getting a new one.

Not only does my son need one, but I completely forgot that passports expire in five years when issued to kids 15 and younger, unlike the adult ones, which last ten. That means my daughter needs one, too. And since both parents have to be with the kid applying for a passport, that means a family field trip during business hours to the post office.

Tacking on an extra field trip to get passport photos first doesn’t sound like fun. Fortunately in the era of digital cameras and cheap photo printing, it’s not hard to do it yourself.

The passport photo requirements are clear:

2″x2″

Top of hair to bottom of chin must be between 1 inch and 1 3/8 inches

From eye height to the bottom of the photo must be between 1 1/8 inches and 1 3/8 inches

White background

Full-face

Neutral expression

Eyes open

No hat, headphones, sunglasses

No glare

And doing it yourself is cheap. For comparison, here are prices for a few places you can go to have them done (each is for two photos, which is how many you must send with the passport application):

Place

Price

ePassportPhoto.com

$7.99

CVS

$7.99

Walgreens

$9.99

Costco

$4.99

I was initially intrigued by ePassportPhoto.com, which promises on its homepage to help crop your photos to the appropriate size through either a free service or a full service “starting from only $0.99/photo,” also promising a 99% approval rate. The reality is that after uploading and cropping your photos, you’re told how to pay, with $7.99 for two photos and options for 4 or 8 photos. They make the free option exceptionally obscure. If you notice the “No thanks” text at the lower right, you can click it to download your image for free. But then you’re asked to like ePassportPhoto on Facebook to be allowed to download them. Below the image there is tiny text that says, “Do not have a Facebook account? Skip to download your photo sheet now.” So it’s certainly possible–or you could just open your favorite image editing program and do it yourself.

I’ve read mixed results on message boards about the results of DIY passport photos. A few people say they have had them rejected and that you should just go pay for it. Personally I’ve done them seven times without any rejections yet (fingers crossed that I didn’t just jinx this round). And there are people who say their drugstore photos were rejected as well. Of course none of these posts ever come with the actual photos, so it’s hard to judge.

My recommendation is two-fold. The first part is that you should always have a passport so that you won’t have to get one in a rush–or so that if you win a trip or your boss asks you to go to a conference on the other side of the planet, you’re always ready to go. The second is that that means you have time to give it a shot at doing your passport photos on your own and saving a few bucks, not to mention the possibility of having to fight a screaming toddler in the drugstore. You can do it on your kids’ time when they’re in a good mood and ready to be cooperative.

Or you could be me, needing to get the passports for the kids in a hurry–resulting at the pictures at the top of this post. I still opted to do them myself because it’s worked fine in the past. But if you’re not confident in your photography skills, paying a few extra dollars might be worth it.

A while ago, I reviewed the adorable book My Little Geek by Andrew & Sarah Spear with illustrations by Edit Sliacka, and I’m back once again to let you know that it’s now an app! If you are looking for books to read on a plane or car trip, this is a must-load for the iPad or for your iPhone.

But I thought we could get along, develop a kind of working relationship. You’d learn from your mistakes, mature. I’d learn to be more patient, more forgiving. I was wrong.

The final straw was this story, about how your employees asked a lactating mother to prove her breast pump was real. She had to go into a public restroom and pump her breasts in front of strangers.

Seriously.

I doubt that GeekMoms really need me to enumerate the ways (oh, let me count them!) that this is wrong for nursing mothers everywhere. We get that, when possible, breastfeeding is ideal for mom and baby. We know society doesn’t offer enough support for the nursing mother, asking her to cover up and feed her baby in public restrooms. We recognize pumping is a private activity, and moms should have a private space in which to do it.

But could I spend just a moment to point out how fundamentally stupid this was from a security point of view? Do you not get that she could have just mixed up a little formula and put it in the bottles? Or purchased some cow’s milk and poured that in? Grabbed a little creamer from the condiment stand at the Starbucks kiosk? That unless your agent stood there, and watched the pump attach to the nipple and then watched the milk flow out and into the bottle, there was no way to know if that liquid in the bottles she produced actually was proof that the pump was what she said it was?

Yeah, I know. You’ve released a statement saying that you “‘accept responsibility” for the “apparent misunderstanding” and the “inconvenience or embarrassment” you “may” have caused her. News flash, TSA. That’s like saying I’m sorry if I hurt you. If you mean it, say it. “I’m sorry I hurt you” goes a lot further. I also know about your “new” procedure for the elderly, which is another piece of PR spin that I’m just not buying.

And while we’re chatting, you know, just the two of us, can I ask about the complaint that I recently filed with you? About how an agent did a little dance move to mock me? And the supervisor threatened me? And the pat-down agent touched my lower genitals? Because so far, I have received four emails saying that you can’t respond to my inquiry and one email saying that you have concluded that your personnel followed standard operating procedures in my screening. Yo. I disagree.

In the meantime, I hope we do get passenger advocates. I also hope, though, that Senator Charles Schumer (D-New York) realizes that having TSA employees do the job will never work. If they could stop themselves from abusing passengers, they would have already done it.

At my baby shower I was given a Pack’n'Play, I had no idea what to do with it. I was told by my husband’s cousin, the giver of the gift and the mother of a one year old, that it was essential. It proved to be so, allowing my son to sleep anywhere we went and giving me a free hand in the kitchen until he figured out how to climb out of it! We do our fair share of traveling and take yearly camping trips in Northern Maine, so a good sleeping area for our kids is important to us. For the July Fourth trip this year, our two and a half year old has his own sleeping bag and free run of the tent, heaven help us. But our second son will be barely four months old and in need of somewhere nice and comfortable for whatever sleep he chooses to bestow on us.

This week our family tested out the newly revamped Travel Crib Light from BabyBjörn. It weighs only 11 pounds and is a more manageable shape than most generic travel cribs so I took to it instantly. It was much easier to set up than our previous model, one fluid motion and you are ready for sleep. While most travel cribs involve snapping arms and bars into place before it is fully assembled, this crib is more about ease of set up. You actually don’t feel like you are setting it up until you are folding it down. Collapsing it was a bit tough for me, but then I’m a self professed weakling. My husband couldn’t understand the fuss I was making so I assume most people won’t struggle the way I did. It is certainly a more manageable take down than our previous model, and comes in what feels like far fewer pieces. No instructions were used in the assembly of this travel crib, so it is great for those early baby days where most conscious and reasoned thought is a distant memory. I also enjoyed the shape of this crib more than I thought I would from the pictures, angled in and away from a large base to a smaller opening it gives a feeling of security that is nice for road trips. The slopes also mean that my two year old can peer over at his brother without the risk of it tipping over in any direction, big plus in this household.

On the downside, it does sit lower on the ground than other travel cribs I have encountered, so I doubt it will accompany us on our camping trip where we sleep on the cold earth. It will however, be great for Grandma’s house and any nap time that we might encounter on days out with friends and is a much easier shape to carry for such quick trips. The mattress is much firmer and of much higher quality than most travel pads, making it feel more like a crib than a portable. It has a removable waterproof slipcover, making clean up of any accidents much easier. While my two year old still managed to climb his way out of this one, my two week old seemed quite content in here. For those traveling much farther, the new Travel Crib Light is also a much more convenient shape once packed up to fit into a large suitcase if needs be, something I cannot say about our previous travel crib which was fairly cumbersome for something designed to be portable. On the whole, this crib will prove much more convenient for the “travel” portion of its purpose.

As with all BabyBjörn products, the materials conform to the highest standards and testing. It can also be completely disassembled and machine washed, excluding the mattress foam, long gone are our days of needing a spray bottle of Febreeze to “clean” with. I was sent a BabyBjörn Travel Crib Light 2 for review purposes.

The line for the AquaDuck is heading up the stairs against the red funnel. The line you see here is about a 30 minute wait. The ride starts in the upper left, loops out off the edge of the ship (it really does stick out over the ocean!) and then travels along the starboard side, curves at the bow of the ship, then returns up the port side. Photo: Patricia Vollmer

Yes, I’ve made it up to Part 6! I didn’t plan to write this much, but I’ve received some really nice feedback from you and I keep finding more and more features to geek out about!

Today’s post will be about AquaDuck, a 765-foot water slide that will only be found on the Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy (when the Fantasy is commissioned later this month). They’re the only cruise ships in the world with complete water slides on board. I had to wait until my waterproof camera pictures were developed to do this one and I’m so excited about it! AquaDuck starts inside the rear funnel and travels from the aft of the ship towards the bow, then goes under the front funnel (behind the Funnel Vision screen) and then continues back toward the aft of the ship, depositing you right at the bottom of the stairs so you can hop right back in line!

The view of AquaDuck from the docks in Nassau. Photo: Patricia Vollmer

Guests get to enjoy a great view of the pool deck while riding. Photo: Patricia Vollmer

If you’ve been to a water park, then there’s little more to be said about the ride. It’s a standard inner tube-type of ride. It’s a lot of fun! I like how Disney (again) puts the kids first by allowing VERY young children to ride with a grownup. I don’t think there’s a minimum size to ride, I saw kids as young as three years old riding with adults. My sons were allowed to ride alone, they are both taller than 44″.

I want to share some other fun things that make AquaDuck really cool for a Disney Geek like me.

There's an adorable comic strip to read while waiting for AquaDuck -- strangely, though, you have to read it from right to left. This was taken with a waterproof film camera and the viewfinder was tough to navigate. Photo: Patricia Vollmer

The rest of the comic. Which shows Donald overdoing things on the ride and smashing into the fore funnel. Ha ha! Photo: Patricia Vollmer

And there's Donald in the funnel! Yikes! Photo: Patricia Vollmer

I was also fascinated with the conveyor machine that transports the rafts back up to the top of the ride. You can see it behind the kids in this picture:

There's a conveyor that brought the rafts from the end of the ride straight up to the top. I also liked that my boys are old enough and tall enough (over 48") to ride it together without an adult on board. Photo: Patricia Vollmer

I took this waterproof camera with me to get some pictures of the ride itself, such as the trip through the forward funnel, but the ride was so exciting I forgot I had the camera with me till the very end. I got this picture, but then found out that due to safety concerns, no cameras are allowed on the ride.

WHEE! It was a wild ride down to the base of the attraction, where that cast member to the right asked me to not take cameras on the ride in the future. Oops! Photo: Patricia Vollmer

Coming next — one more post about the cruise! I plan to bare my soul a little and discuss the onboard credit account and offer some tips on how to keep your cruise spending under control.

The Disney Dream is Disney Cruise Line's newest ship, but not for long. The Disney Fantasy is scheduled for her first cruise at the end of March. Photo: Patricia Vollmer

Santa brought the Vollmer family a 4-night Disney cruise vacation this year! The trip was last week, which happened to coincide with our youngest son’s birthday. In a very uncharacteristic move, my husband and I agreed to take the sons out of school for a solid week and drove out to Port Canaveral, Florida, the homeport to the Disney Dream, Disney Cruise Line’s most-recently christened* ship.

I don’t plan to discuss too much about the cruise itself. Anyone can write about taking a cruise, right? We stopped in Nassau, Bahamas and on Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay. Our sons got to experience snorkeling for the first time. I’ve cruised with Carnival in the past, but that didn’t hold a candle to last week’s trip! My family was geeking-out at some of the amazing little subtleties that make the Disney Cruise Line experience second-to-none!

1.) Hidden Mickeys everywhere!

Need I say more?

It goes without saying that the "Hidden Mickeys" are everywhere. This one isn't quite so hidden, though. Photo: Patricia Vollmer

2.) Characters everywhere!

Obviously there are Disney characters on a Disney cruise, right? After having experienced many hours in line over the years waiting to meet Mickey, Minnie, Pooh Bear, Rafiki, Buzz Lightyear and Mr. Frederickson at Walt Disney World, it was a breath of fresh air to not have to wait long for characters at all. My sons filled up their autograph book on a family trip to Disneyworld in 2009, so they were rather lassiez-faire about the characters this time around. In fact, we only waited in line for ONE character: Jack Sparrow! Most of the others we encountered almost by chance throughout the cruise ship.

When your very first elevator ride to your stateroom is with Donald Duck, the bar has been set pretty high. Photo used with permission by Patricia Vollmer

3.) The Key to the World

Like other cruise lines, many things are tied in to the key card. Disney calls their card the “Key to the World“, whether you’re on the cruise or staying at a Disney resort on land. If you are combining a cruise with a Walt Disney World vacation, the same card will have your resort key, park tickets and Disney Dining Plan information loaded onto it.

On the Disney Dream, we used the key card to enter our stateroom, turn on the lights, enter/exit the ship at ports of call, tie into a photography account when the onboard photographers take snapshots, drop off/pick up your children from the Oceaneer’s Club, and charge beverages and souvenirs.

The Disney Dream is so new that instead of swiping the key card in many places, we instead had a touch pad. Similar to MasterCard PayPass touch pads. To enter/exit our staterooms, the kids didn’t even have to remove the keycards from their lanyards. Just touch the card to the pad. We used similar touch pads for entering/exiting the ship.

The little black keypad above the door handle is a touch pad for the key card. The kids didn't have to pull their cards out of their lanyard pockets to open/close the door! Photo: Patricia Vollmer

Another thing the key card is used for is to control the electricity in your stateroom. I found this a great energy-conservation tool. There was a slot near the front door for the key card. A card needed to be in the slot before lights or the television could be turned on. I discovered that it didn’t matter what card was used for the switch — I’m guessing it was a manual connection switch in the slot somewhere. I saw a stateroom host using a Sleep Inn keycard while cleaning a nearby stateroom, ha ha!

I didn’t get a picture of the wristbands, but each child ages 3-10 who wants to participate in the Oceaneer Club or Oceaneer Lab kids’ clubs on the Disney Dream are outfitted with waterproof wristbands. These two kids’ clubs together (they’re connected) offer over 10,000 square feet of playspace, covering everything from playground space to arts and crafts to interactive play. You may fit the children for the wristbands in the cruise terminal before boarding, at the registration temporary office as soon as your board, or any time during the cruise at the Kids’ Club check-in/check-out area (which I don’t recommend because there’s often a line of parents that you tend to hold up while the attendant is printing and fitting the wristband).

It seemed simple enough for the kids to tap their wrists to the gate to enter and exit. Very secure! You provide a password through the Disney website that approved adults can use to check out the kids from the secure areas.

NOTE: As a safety measure, the kids club policies changed significantly starting in January 2012. Whereas previously parents could freely participate with their children at any time, now the kids’ clubs offer “Open House” and “Secured” areas. If you desire your child to be at the kids’ clubs without parents present, they have to go to the “Secured” area and no other parents are allowed in. Only DCL child care employees. If the family desires to do the kids’ club activities together they can take advantage of “Open House” periods in 2-4 hour blocks throughout the cruise.

Another hidden feature of the RFID bands — the geeky part — is that in the kids’ club spaces, the wristband is transmitting what rooms you child travels to. This helps the counselors maintain their ratios and helps the parents quickly find their children when it’s pick-up time.

5.) The Automatic Hand Washing Machine!

It's an automatic hand-washing machine! Before the kids entered the Oceaneer's Club or Oceaneer's Lab, their forearms were dunked into this machine for 30 seconds. Washed and rinsed! Photo: Patricia Vollmer

Also in the kids’ club areas were these most-awesome machines. Automatic hand-washers! The kids simply stick their arms inside and the machine automatically starts. Water spirals around your hands and forearms, then soapy water, then another cycle of fresh water. All in about 25 seconds. Take out your arms and dry them off!

6.) The Amazing Cast

Unlike other cruise lines, families aboard Disney Cruise Line trips are assigned the same service team for dinner dining and stateroom care throughout the entire cruise. This has both benefits and drawbacks.

Of course, a benefit is that you get to know several of the cast members. This is great for the kids. We had very friendly servers and the stateroom host was a sweetheart. At the end of the cruise, you are presenting gratuities to the servers and stateroom host themselves, instead of their pooling the money. Our boys learned quite a bit about Bulgaria from our assistant server, Dimi. Dimi was relatively new and was practicing his Mickey-Mouse ears-shaped ketchup every night.

One of the drawbacks is that I could imagine if someone received substandard service (which wouldn’t be tolerated for long by Disney Cruse Lines, I’d imagine), you’re left with that server for the duration. I didn’t see this, so let’s just hope this is purely hypothetical.

If you’re celebrating while on board, stand back! Disney gives you several opportunities to tell them whether you’re getting married (there were several weddings during our cruise), celebrating an anniversary or birthday, or on a honeymoon. Since our youngest son was celebrating his 7th birthday during the cruise, they gave him a button to wear. Cast members left and right would say “Happy Birthday” to our son as we were walking throughout the ship and on Castaway Cay.

My youngest son was allowed to wear a "Happy Birthday" button during the cruise. Cast members were wishing him "Happy Birthday" constantly. Here, Jack Sparrow is wishing him Happy Birthday. Look at that face! You can't beat it! Photo: Patricia Vollmer

7.) Disney Movies Galore at the Buena Vista Theater

Are there any Disney films in theaters while you’re sailing? If so, you have several opportunities to see them during the cruise for no additional charge.

I was thrilled to see Beauty and the Beast 3D being offered but I didn’t get to see any movies during the cruise. It’s tough debating what items to cut from the packed schedule.

Warhorse and The Muppets were also showing. Other movies offered included The Help, Cars 2 and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

8.) A Cruise Ship Tradition: Turn-Down Service, Disney Style

Anyone who’s been on a cruise vacation knows that the stateroom host makes up your room in the morning, and then during dinner he/she comes in and performs a “turn-down service”. For our particular stateroom, this meant pulling the bunk bed down from the ceiling, laying out chocolates and leaving the kids a cool towel origami animal to enjoy.

Good night!

The bottom bunk is the couch with the back flipped down. The top bunk came down from the ceiling! Photo: Patricia Vollmer

Stars and constellations of Peter Pan, Wendy and the other Darling children graced the kids' top bunk. Photo: Patricia Vollmer

Sitting down to sketch or paint a place you love is one of the best ways of revisiting it. That’s because getting the images on paper forces you to re-imagine the sights and sounds, making it come alive more fully in your memory.

The folks at They Draw & Travel know all about this process. They urge you to map out your favorite place, then share it with others on their site. There you’ll find unique and imaginative glimpses of places like Mtscheta, Georgia and North Devon, UK and Orange, Texas.

Tinatina Wieczorek www.theydrawandtravel.com

Lauren Bowler www.theydrawandtravel.com

Catherine Fontenot www.theydrawandtravel.com

If you need further encouragement, they’re currently running a contest called You-Topia which offers a total of $1,500 in cash and prizes.

If you happen to be planning a trip to Italy, then you want someone who speaks Italian as your guide. If you’re going to backpack through the Swiss Alps, then you want someone who knows the best places to stop and camp for the night. But if you’re a geek, and you want to check out a convention, then you want the guys from Geek Nation Tours.

Tours have always been a great way to meet with like minded folks and experience new places. They take all the quess work out of your vacation and free you up to have fun without worrying over the details. Now there’s finally a company that is addressing that need for geeks and gamers by designing tours to your favorite conventions and special events.

Miniature wargamers can take advantage of trips to places like GenCon or Adepticon and get some great insider tips. At this year’s GenCon welcome dinner, for example, you’ll get game tips from the hosts of The D6 Generation gaming podcast and Megan Culver, GenCon Director of Marketing, will be handing out your badges and saving you from waiting in lines. In addition to scheduled events throughout the convention you’ll be given ample time to explore and game on your own.

But what if your significant other just isn’t into the same geeky stuff you are and dreads the thought of attending a geeky convention? No problem. The folks at Geek Nation Tours have the geek-adjacent covered and will happily help find activities and events elsewhere in the city. In fact, at Adepticon they’ve devised the special Non-Geek Spouse Tour that includes tours, dinners and a limo ride through Chicago!

Check out Geek Nation Tours for details on trips to GenCon, Adepticon, Star Trek Las Vegas and even places outside the United States like Essen Speil in Germany!

(Geek Nation Tours advertises on The D6 Generation podcast, on which I host a segment.)

Waiting. Something that’s so hard for kids to do and something that’s an absolute guarantee when you’re flying. Props to San Francisco International Airport for featuring interactive displays for kids. The Kids’ Spot in our terminal featured a number of weather-related displays that allow kids (and let’s be honest, adults) to play with the concept of wind and air as they wait. The tornado display was hands-down our favorite.

No surprise that this display is sponsored by the fabulous Exploratorium. Another kid-friendly area – sponsored by the California Academy of Sciences – features an aquarium with live frogs, fish, and corals from the tropics.

At Friday’s media preview day, we had a chance to explore Legoland Florida in advance of the opening-day madness. What we noticed: In addition to the big thrills of the rides, the jaw-dropping scope of Lego work in the park, and the all-around fun of being surrounded by fellow Lego fans, one of the best parts is spotting the little details. The whole park (especially Miniland) is chock full of Easter eggs for sharp-eyed visitors.

Here are a bunch of examples from around the park. Stay tuned for more on opening day, and watch for GeekMom updates on Twitter!

Inside the Imagination Zone, you can build a Lego racecar to test on ramps and tracks, or build a structure and test it with a simulated earthquake. This cutaway is in one of the skyscrapers in the earthquake area.

We thought this plumber outside of the restrooms was funny, but there's more......he's ready to work with a wrench in his pocket.

The roaring dinosaur noises coming from Coastersaurus sound scary, until you spot the amplified small fry who's making them.

Into each theme park a crazy cat lady must fall. I particularly like her curlers.

Another very cool aspect of Legoland Florida is the abundance of Lego bricks to play and build with. This artful arrangement at The Market restaurant lets grownups linger over their lunches or lattes (yes, there's a coffee bar) while kids play.

My daughter has been traveling a lot since she was born because we don’t live near family. So she has been taking car trips since she was very young. She’s a very good car traveler which makes things easier for us, especially when we are driving back home to Michigan from North Carolina.

But I had been stressing out because she and I were going to be flying to Texas for my cousin’s wedding. I knew that there was going to be a lot of walking, waiting, sitting and I wasn’t sure how she was going to handle it.

She had flown once before when she was 11 months old for another cousin’s wedding. But she was nursing then, so I just nursed her to sleep on the flight. It was super easy. Toddlers are generally not easy, so I was worried.

I shouldn’t have been though, as she did great. She was happy to roll her very own suitcase through the airport. During the waits in the airport, she would play nicely and color without making a ruckus.

On the plane, she ate the Milk Duds I offered in order to keep her ears from popping on take off. On the flight there, she colored and played with stickers from the special goody bag I had made up. On the flight back, she fell asleep on me for most of the flight.

Apparently, I had nothing to worry about since my child is apparently a great traveler. How does your toddler handle traveling – either by car or by plane?

Caltech and Southern California Institute of Architecture's Compact, Hyper-Insulated Prototype house--one of the more "out of the box" entrants in this year's Department of Energy-sponsored Solar Decathlon in Washington, DC.

If you’re in the DC region, a fan of “Not So Big Houses,” and looking to be inspired and amazed this weekend, there’s still time to catch this year’s Solar Decathlon at the National Mall’s West Potomac Park. Sponsored by the US Department of Energy, the Decathlon challenges collegiate teams to design, build, and operate solar-powered houses that are cost-effective, energy-efficient, and attractive–and then invites the public to tour the homes at no cost during the competition’s ten days of judging.

This year there are 19 houses to tour. Some of my personal favorites were:

Team Appalachian State’sSolar Homestead - The more I explored the Solar Homestead, the more I liked it. Its’ “Great Porch” served as a fully-functioning outdoor kitchen/entertaining space while also acting as a bridge between the main house and the 120-square-foot Flex Om (ie: writer’s studio I’ve always dreamed of). Meanwhile, inside the main house, hidden pocket doors in the kitchen turned the main living space into a home theater…

Team Parsons/Stevens/Milagro’sEmpowerhouse – Parsons et. al. partnered with Habitat for Humanity in order to create a home that was not only affordable (a longstanding Habitat for Humanity objective) but also sustainable. After the competition, EMPOWERHOUSE will be transported to the Deanwood neighborhood of DC, a second story with additional bedrooms will be added, and it’s new owners will take immediate occupancy…

Team Purdue’sINHome – In my opinion, INHome was the most charming of all the entrants–so I was surprised to hear that it had won second place in the affordability competition of the Decathlon. I’m a sucker for wraparound porches, clerestory windows, and biowalls–so Purdue had me at hello…

Team SciArc/CalTech’sCHIP – With it’s space-age, soft-fabric exterior, tiered floor-plan, and modular, stowable furniture, CHIP stretches the traditional definition of “home.” I couldn’t help but think that while I would require more privacy than the open 750-square-foot layout offered, CHIP would make an amazing Barbie Eco-Dream House for tomorrow’s still-impressionable home-buyers to play with and explore…

The Solar Decathlon runs through October 2nd and is open to the public from 10 am to 5:30 pm. Word to the wise: plan on taking mass transit to the site and know in advance that food and snack options are available–but are pricey and limited. There are also informational workshops running throughout the weekend for homeowners and professional builders. Finally, for those unable to make the event, the Decathlon website offers some great hands-on projects for teachers and families interested in learning more about solar power while enjoying the comforts of their own homes.

View of the kitchen of Parson's EMPOWERHOUSE, taken from the living room. Built in partnership with Habitat for Humanity of Washington, DC, the house will be moved to the Deanwood neighborhood after the competition and a family will imediately move in.